View topic - What did you do with or to your DeSoto today?

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Actually it was yesterday that the annual Branson Midnight Cruise took place. The rain held off long enough to get it completed. As usual there were probably around 600 cars, trucks, motorcycles, etc. and probably 25000 people lining the parade route.

But that wasn't the most excitement for me.....I was cruising Branson earlier in the the day and was pulled over.....not by the cops but by 4 gentlemen in a '69 Road Runner that didn't know what my car was. They saw it go by and chased me down till we were at a stop light together. They asked if it was a Chrysler product (as they thought it was) and I of course said "yes it is". They asked if they could get a closer look so we pulled into a bank parking lot and spent about a half hour or so going over our cars and general car talk that went along with it.

This is what's the most fun with these cars when they generate so much interest. it's amazing the number horn honks, thumbs up, hoots and hollers and probably many of you have experienced the same. But by contrast, there are the snobby Chevy owners that couldn't care less about these fine automobiles.

Drove my DeSoto to Springfield, MO and met with two groups heading on Route 66 to San Diego one Monday and one yesterday (Tues.) I will be sharing these visits with Geoff Overley to be included in the Adventurer later on.

The Monday group was the only one that had DeSotos making the trek. I'll try sending pics but I'll leave the story to Geoff.

A strange thing happened on the way to meet these folks when a fellow pulled up along side of me and said: "Hey, you're going in the wrong direction - aren't you going to San Diego?" Turned out he was going but in his Mustang convertible. I didn't get his name but he knows who he is.

Previously, I removed the rusty original two piece line. Then used that as a template for bending a new one. Installation is very difficult for the rear section, and impossible for the front section. That section must have been factory installed before the body was mated with the frame. I ended up splitting it into two sections and snaking it in. Lots of trial and error and tweaking.

Today, Labor Day, I drove the '55 to a local church charity show organized by an AACA Region friend. The show was postponed from Saturday due to rain, but that turned out to be a blessing to the church's youth group as they had a record turnout of 109 registered cars. Two other Region members and I judged the show so my DeSoto was not judged. It was the only DeSoto there and the only '50's era MoPar aside from another Region member's '58 Dodge parked next to me.

From there, I drove the short distance to a senior living residence at the invitation of another Region member that now lives at the facility. Each year they have a Labor Day cookout and invite friends and family to share the day with the residents. There are bouncy houses, petting zoo, horseback rides, an ice cream truck, etc. Our Region member invites several other members to display their old cars for the residents and family members. The DeSoto rekindled a lot of memories for the old folks.

The Studebaker-Packard club hosted a car show for "orphans" this weekend. Believe it or not, not one, but two DeSotos were on display. In addition there was a Pontiac, three Plymouths, a Kaiser, an Oldsmobile, and a Hudson.

The red '56 Firedome belongs to a gentleman from Illinois but unfortunately I was never able to connect with him - his car was there but he wasn't. Of course the blue and white '59 Firesweep is my pride and joy. The weather was spectacular and I can only hope it is the same for our NDC National next year.

Bob Schmidt, the master and world wide known DeSoto restorer, stopped by. If there is enough interest from our members, we could visit his shop in Hollister, MO during the national as Hollister is only a couple of miles from Branson.

Yesterday Bud & Shirley Tyler and Sue and I made our annual trek to the Ypsilanti Orphan car Show. We drove the '52 and Tyler's drove their '32. It is about a 160 mile drive and we do the back roads with the '32 so it is a two day affair for us.

There was 16 DeSoto's and about 40 members there for our Great Lakes Chapter Fall meeting and pot luck lunch. It was a beautiful Fall day and a great time of fellowship with our group. The pass in review feature of this show is interesting as they feature each car and the experts tell the crowd about your car. They are very good at pointing out design features etc. about all the cars.

The high lite of the day for our Chapter was Dan and Lois's 1942 DeSoto Coupe winning best of show. This is a big show with hundreds of really rare and beautiful cars so winning best of show is quite an honor.

Unfortunately, I didn't do anything with my '48 that was nearly as much fun as the rest of you have been having with your De Sotos. What I did do with mine was have it carried to a local garage to be worked on. The reason that I'm posting this story is to tell you what happened when I called AAA to have the car towed. The young lady on the other end of the phone couldn't find De Soto in her database! She asked me if that was the make or the model of the car. I explained to her that De Soto use to be a division of Chrysler, like Dodge and Plymouth. I even spelled De Soto for her, but I don't know how she was spelling it on her computer. She ended up calling it a Chrysler, and that was good enough to get a roll-back here to carry it to the garage. (At least she didn't call it a Dodge - I don't know how many times I've seen, even in Hemmings, ads for a "Dodge DeSoto"; lol.)

Bill, I once read a story about a guy that drove his '55 Chrysler to the parts store to buy something for it. The kid behind the counter only knew how to use the computer, and the computer didn't go back to '55. He refused to realize that Chrysler made a car in '55, despite that fact that there was one in the parking lot.

"It's not on the computer, so it doesn't exist"

I'm lucky in McPherson because our local parts stores frequently hire students in the Restoration program at McPherson College, and they definitely know that cars go way back before the computer says they do!

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